travel

AN INTERVIEW WITH JULIA PICKERING

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AN INTERVIEW WITH JULIA PICKERING

She’s a daring adventurer that has left footprints in places like the Arctic and Alaska; some may call her a exploratory mountaineer, brand ambassador or a big mountain snowboarder- but she likes to introduce herself as Jules. Julia Pickering isn’t only a split board master but also a influential pioneer in female mountaineering. POWDERROOM –recently

My First Car

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I was recently thinking about my first car and how I'm glad she was a piece of crap. Her name was Phoebe, and she was already ten years old when I got her. If I had been one of those kids whose parents bought them a brand new car, surely I wouldn't have such good

Hello Sunshine at Portes du Soleil

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The resorts of the Portes du Soleil are ever increasing in popularity. With seasonnaire numbers growing with every year, Rosa Wildy investigates what the hype is all about.

I first realized the gigantic size of the Portes du Soleil ski area when I can’t open the piste map on a chair lift. Spidery blue, red and black lines creep out from every fold. They start on the left in Champéry and keep on going. Over mountains, into valleys, sneaking past lakes and crawling through towns until the tentacles run out of steam at the far right of the page in Les Gets.

Is your snow flight affected by the BA strike?

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If you’re heading to the Brits in Switzerland – or to any other snow destination for that matter – you might want to check whether your British Airways flight is going to be affected by the forthcoming strike.
 
Strikes are due from March 20 to 22 and 27 to 30 and BA say they’re currently hoping to operate 60% of their flights on those days.. You can enter your flight number on the British Airways website to get more information on what’s likely to happen to your flight.

Snuggle up with a Wicked Campervan

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The start of my snowboarding holidays sometimes feel a bit like this: 
 
1. Leave the house before the birds are singing and the sun has risen dragging behind me a heavy snowboard bag (called Tigger Rose) filled with one snowboard and 27 thousand different changes of clothes
 
2. Haul Tigger Rose like dead body up dark street along with laptop bag (aka Dragon) and hand luggage (aka Chloe the Midnight Fox) to bus stop ready for my bus / tube / DLR / train trek across central London
 
3.

Pre book a transfer for cross Paris travel with your snow kit

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Eurostar has become an easy and more environmentally friendly way to get to the Alps (when it’s running, that is) but getting across Paris from the Gare du Nord to catch your onward train can be a bit of a faff.

I well know the pain of lugging snowboard kit on the London Underground and imagine the Paris Metro is no more fun.

Have you got your winter travel insurance?

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Between 50cm and 100cm of snow are expected in the Alps in the next few days – so the conditions for an early season snow trip are looking good.
 
With Christmas close you might be tempted to squeeze a little more out of your holiday money and head to the hills without winter sports holiday insurance.
 
Britain’s biggest ski magazine The Good Ski Guide has warned that accidents on the piste are increasing, especially among snowboarders while the most common accidents are collisions between skiers and boarders.
 
Christian Young, director of AA Travel Insurance added: "A fifth of Britons now enjoy winter sports each year and that means the pistes are becoming more crowded.

Animal Snow Camps heading to Austria and Japan this winter

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Animal’s hugely successful snowboard camps are back for a 5th season this winter. But in 2010 the crew will be taking campers to new destinations in Austria and Japan.

There are three Austrian camps running in the resort from Nassfeld in February and March. Each includes six days on snow and coaching from Animal pro riders to help you improve your all mountain skills. There’ll be coaching sessions in the park and
on the piste as well as guided freeriding sessions. You’ll be able to watch your progression using video analysis and there’ll be a session with a photographer too.

Save on snowboard carriage and card fees with bmibaby

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If you’re looking to book your winter flights, there are a couple of tidy moneysaving deals on offer at bmibaby at the moment. 
 
You can take snowboards and skis for free on flights to key winter destinations this winter. The airline flies from Manchester to Grenoble, Geneva, Toulouse and Malaga, and from Cardiff, Birmingham and East Midlands Airport to Grenoble, Geneva and Malaga. This is a limited offer and it’s available now – so book soon to take advantage. 
 
If you’re quick, you can also save even more as there are no credit and debit card fees on bmibaby flights booked until Tuesday September 8.

Volcano boarding in Nicaragua

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There’s a place 11 miles east of the Pacific Ocean coast in Nicaragua called Leon where Bigfoot Hostel and Green Pathways Tours is situated. I had never heard of Leon, Bigfoot Hostel, or Green Pathways Tours before I happened to see it come up on a Google search.
 
I was looking to see what was going on in the snowboarding industry now that it’s spring in the northern hemisphere. I was scrolling down and then I see “volcano boarding.” Yeah, I didn’t believe it at first either.